Cereal-cutting machine



Oct. 23, 1928.

H. G. WOODHEAD CEREAL CUTTING MACHINE Filed July 10'. 1922 2Sheets-Sheet 1' Oct. 23, 1928.

H. G. WOODHEAD CEREAL CUTTING MACHINE Filed July 10. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet2 Patented Get. 23, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT trie HORACE G. WOODI'IEAD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,ASSIGNOR TO B. F. GUMP 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORl-GRATION FILLINOIS.

CEREAL-CUTTING MACHINE.

Application filed July 10,

My invention relates to the reduction of cereals and other grains inwhich the material is comminuted as far as possible into sharp granularform. This may be done by coacting rolls having knives separated bycapacious grooves which are rounded and give additional capacity toprevent breaking and crushing the material. A structure ofv the kindreferred to is made the subject matter of Patents Nos. 1,183,473 and1,183,474, dated May 16, 1916, and issued to Jules Le Page. A similareffect in a simpler and less expensive form is also the subject matterof an invention of said Le Page, Serial- No. 469,498, which has beenmatured into Patent No. 1,437 ,429, issued December 5, 1922. In the saidinvention a single roll of the character described is made to co-actwith a series of knives on the face of a relatively stationary bar. Butwhen the grain to be milled, such as Indian corn, is hard and flinty,particularly in the case of a machine in which a roll cooperates with astationary or nonrotating element, the feed is likely to be uneven andbunchy. This is particularly true when the rolls which are used eitherfor out ting or feeding the material have become somewhat smooth ordulled by use. The result is due toan action on the part of the smoothhard grains, which may be described by the word flinching and is due toa disposition of the grains to fly back when first coming in contactwith the revolving roll.

It is the object generally of my invention to provide means by which asmooth, continuous and evenly distributed flow of material may beprovided throughout the feed and cutting mechanism of my device. Furtherobjects of my invention are to provide a simple and inexpensive knifebar which will co-act with the corrugated roll; to provide a slidinghead which is elastically adjustable relatively to said roll; to socorelate the knife bar and the holding portion of said head as to give amultiplicity of fresh knife edges, and to provide a throat piece forsaid head which will co-act with the corrugated roll to provide anarrowed entrance way or throat for the stock to be milled, whereby suchstock will be more positively fed into the co-acting cutting knives andbe formed into a granular product with the minimum amount of flourormeal.

Serial 110. 573,858.

drawings in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section on the line 11 of Fig. 2.Fig; 2 is a top view of a transverse section taken on the line 22 ofFig. 1. F i g. 3 is a perspective view of the movable knife head.including the knife and its attachments. k

Further describing my invention by reference to the drawings in whichlike characters of reference denote like parts throughout, the numerals1 and 2 indicate portions of a substantial frame upon which the variouselements of my device are mounted. A. face plate or table 3 is mountedon the said framework and has a central cut-away portion providing theaperture 4. Numeral 5 represents abutment brackets mounted on the saidtace plate. Numeral '7 designates a cutting roll having the shafts 8ournaled in the boxes 9. The said roll has longitudinal corrugationswhich preferably face forward in the direction of rotation and areseparated from each other by grooves which are rounded in transversesection. A sliding head adapted to cooperate with the said roll is shownin Fig. 3 in which 12 is the principal body portion having dependingbrackets 13 which are undercut at 14 to receive inner edges of thecut-away portion 4 of the table 3. The said head is provided with guiderods 15 which are rigidly secured to the head 12 in bosses 16 and whichextend backwardly therefrom through suitable openings in the abutmentbrackets 5. They are screw-threaded and provided with adjustment nuts 17in the usual manner bywhich the movement of the head toward the cuttingroll is limited. Springs 18 are placed between the head and the abutmentbrackets, said springs being of such capacity as to support the normalload of operation but to yield in case of rigid or unyielding materialentering the apparatus. A longitudinal recess 20 is formed in the baseportion of the sliding head and extends from end to end thereof. Acutter bar 21 is seated in the recess, and the opposite faces thereofhave transverse corrugations 22, 23. The conformation of the cutter barand the positien of the recess in the sliding head should be such that aproper cut-ting angle is formed between the face of the bar and thecircumference of the roll 7. The said cutter bar is secured in place bymachine screws 24 which engage transverse openings in the centrallongitudinal line of the cutter bar. The cutter bar is so placed and therecess so adapted to receive it that the operative line which co-actswith the cutting roll is off the longitudinal median line of the cutterbar. Provision is thus made that by detaching the cutter bar from themachine screws and turning it from end to end two cutting faces areprovided and, by reversal, two additional cutting faces may be obtained.

In order that a positive feed to the coop crating line of the cutter barand roll may be secured at all times I provide a narrowed throat bymeans of a throat piece 26 which co-actswith the roll to form a narrowedthroat at 27. A preferable structure for this element consists of alongitudinally folded strip 28 of relatively thin steel as shown in thedrawings. A flat portion thereof 29 is secured. by means of screws 30 toa back extension 31 on the sliding head. An outwardly projected rib 32extends throughout the length of the strip, the lower portion thereof,33, being turned down and having a lower edge 34 which should preferablybe slightly removed from contact with the upper edge of the cutter bar,thus forming an elastic contact for the material passing into the throatof which it forms one side. Said extreme lower edge 34 provides a stopagainst retraction of material and positively holds it in contact withthe cutting surfaces where instantaneous cutting action takes place.

The devices thus far described are enclosed in a casing provided withhopper elements 41 and 42 into which material is led by the pipe 43. Atthe lower part of the hopper thus formed is placed a feed roll 44 which-is longitudinally corrugated with forwardly facing corrugations givingwhat is known as a saw tooth or hook cut. The longitudinal opening atthe lower part of the hopper and between it and the feed roll iscontrolled by means of slide 45 By the use of a roll of the characterdesignated an even and uniform flow of material is provided which isreceived upon the apron46 and falls upon the projection 28 from which itcontinues over the rib 32 and is led into the throat 27 where thecutting operation takes place.

While I have primarily designed and described my machine for thetreatment of coreals, it is understood that it may be used on non-cerealberries, such as coffee, or any other material for which it may be foundto be adapted.

I claim:

1. In a cereal cutting machine having a reduction roll and aco-operating cutting device, the combination with said cutting device ofa throat piece of resilient material adapted to co-act with said roll toform a progressively narrowed approach to the operative area formed bysaid roll and said cutting device.

2. In a cereal cutting machine; areduction roll. a. head movablyadjustable relative- 1y to said roll, a cuttin device on said head toco-act with said rol and a throat piece on said head adapted to co-actwith said roll to form a progressively narrowedapproach to the operativearea formed by said roll and said cutting device, the lower edge of saidthroat piece forming a stop against reverse movement of material passingthe same.

3. In a cereal cutting machine; a frame work including a table having acentral aperture and lateral guide-ways adjacent tosaid aperture, a headon said table, undercut edges of said table adjacent to said aperture,

a reduction roll j ournaled on said framework, a cutting device on saidhead, means for adjusting said head so as to position said cuttingdevice in operative relation to said roll, and a throat piece on saidhead adapted to coact with said roll to form a progressively narrowedapproach to the'operative area formed by said roll and said cuttingdevice.

5. In a cereal cutting machine having a rotating reduction element and arelatively stationary element with their operative faces disposed at anangle to each other, the combination with the relativelystationaryreduction element of a resilient throat piece adapted to forma narrowed approach to the opera tive area of said reduction device.

6. In a cereal cutting machine, a framework including a table, areduction roll journaled on the frame-work, a head on the tableadjustable relatively to said roll and having a longitudinal recess inthe face thereof throughout its operative length adapted to receive acutting plate turned backwardly at an acute angle from the horizontaldiameter of the roll, a cutting platein the recess of said head, and aresilient throat piece on said head having its free end extendeddownwardly and over-lapping the upper edge of said cutting plate. i

7. In a. cereal cutting machine, a frame-. work including a table, areduction roll journaled on the frame-work, a recessed head on the tableadjustable relatively to said roll, a cutter bar having oppositelyplaced oval faces provided with transverse cutting knives and adapted tobe interchangeably seated in the recess in said head said knives beingfurther adapted to co -act with said roll along a line removed from themedian line of the face of said cutter bar.

8. In a cereal cutting machine, a framework including a table, areduction roll. journaled on the frame-work, a head on the table havinga recess in its face and adjustable relatively to said roll, a cutterbar having transversely formed knives on both sides thereof received insaid recess so that the central longitudinal plane of the cutter bar isat an acute angle to the horizontal diameter of the cutting roll, andthat the faces of the cutter bar at the median line thereof are removedfrom the normal operative line of said roll whereby four operative facesare. selectively provided for said knives.

9. In a cereal cutting machine; a framework including a table,arcduction roll journaled on the frame-work, a head on the tableadjustable relatively to said roll, a cutter bar provided on both sidesthereof with integral transversely formed knives secured on said head sothat the central longitudinal plane of the cutter bar is at an acuteangle to the horizontal diameter of the cutting roll and that the facesof the cutter bar at the frame; the combination with said roll of headand a removable cutting plate in said head, said cutting plate having aplurality of cylindro-seginental faces on opposite sides thereofprovided with transverse cutting knives, and said head having alongitudinal recess conformable with and adapted to receive and seatsaid cutting plate in reversible position turned backwardly from saidreduction roll so that the operative points of relation of the reductionroll with the faces of the cutting plate will be along lines below themedian line of said cutting plate.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois.

HORACE s. WOODI-IEAD.

